A Little Life

by Hanya Yanagihara

Henry James would love every sentence in this book. It demands commitment – and a large portion of your life if you want to gain from the experience. You need to make time to consider - to think about what you are being told. To ponder deeply on bewilderment, bereavement, brutishness. Don’t expect an easy read. This is a demanding book, but it's full of humanity and love. Well worth persevering.

Extract

But then one day he had called. It had been early February, almost seven months exactly after they had taken him to the hospital, and JB wanted to see him and talk. He suggested that JB meet him at a cafe called Clementine that was near Willem's building, and as he inched his way past the tightly packed tables to a seat against the back wall, he realized why he had chosen this place: because it was too small and too cramped, for JB to do his impression of him, and recognizing that, he felt foolish and cowardly.